Selecting sanitation systems for sustainability in developing countries

Area of Science:

• Environmental Engineering
• Sustainable Development
• Water Resource Management

Background:

• Developing countries face significant challenges in selecting appropriate and sustainable wastewater management solutions.
• Existing methods often fail to comprehensively integrate multi-dimensional sustainability criteria.
• There is a need for systematic approaches to evaluate and compare diverse wastewater technologies.

Purpose of the Study:

• To present a methodology for incorporating multi-dimensional sustainability into wastewater option selection for developing countries.
• To enable systematic evaluation and comparison of different wastewater management technologies.
• To provide a framework for informed decision-making in sanitation planning.

Main Methods:

• Screening of appropriate technologies for developing countries based on function and operational sustainability.
• Elaboration of design options from the screened technology list.
• Application of sustainability indicators for parallel comparison across environmental, economic, and socio-cultural dimensions.

Main Results:

• A systematic methodology for integrating sustainability into wastewater option selection was developed.
• Sustainability indicators were defined for environmental, economic, and socio-cultural evaluation.
• The approach was illustrated with a case study on sanitation options in South Africa's eThekwini Municipality.

Conclusions:

• The proposed methodology provides a robust framework for selecting sustainable wastewater options in developing countries.
• Integrating multi-dimensional sustainability indicators enhances the evaluation and comparison of sanitation technologies.
• The approach supports informed decision-making for effective and context-specific wastewater management solutions.